SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

How will you be taking this to market? What are your key Startup Metrics ? Major Phases / Major Features - What are the major features in the major phases for the product? Often this ties to marketing support. Do you transact immediately or on delivery of some product or service? Are there specific landing pages?

Develop 384

Develop Development Startup SEO 384

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Everhart distills his leadership insights from many decades in one of the largest business-to-business marketing agencies, working with companies across the country. Don’t forget it.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases. The Wal-Mart home page is customized for each shopper based on location, local weather, and the customer search and purchase history. Algorithms and data are required to compete.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. You have a marketing department with three people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

I was running the largest deals in the media and entertainment video area across many different Google products. I worked with the head of each product area, such as YouTube, on how to drive more value for our large partners. We have our product in the market, and launched our beta in January. The metrics are very solid.

Google 233

Google Content Startup Venice 233

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. Free and freemium products need a solid base. Market penetration. Market penetration. First of all, a definition. Customer acquisition cost.

Startup 106

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 106

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I love good causes and social entrepreneurs, but a recent pitch to me about eliminating world hunger with a new product (harvesting algae at low cost) seemed to forget that really hungry people don’t have any money. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors. Make the product or service come alive.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is now one of the key marketing tools, but not the only one, so the challenge is to manage the resource tradeoffs effectively by constantly assessing payback versus cost. Create an integrated conventional marketing and social media strategy. Don’t forget the metrics and analytics.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

socalTECH

JANUARY 24, 2011

market has been different, is that the adoption of mobile internet has not been nearly as prevalent. The reason for music, is it's a really aspirational market. Matthias Galica: My last role was as a product manager for another local startup, Woome.com, an online dating site. In that market, there are literally no ROI metrics.

Startup 220

Startup West Hollywood Metrics Entertainment 220

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Suddenly you will find that writing a ten-to-twenty page business plan with details is easy rather than daunting. Set target date milestones and metrics to gauge progress. The result was a product that was bloated and late to market. I recommend the minimum viable product (MVP) strategy.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. Here’s what I believe, but won’t claim to “know” because every time I think I know something the market seems to do something entirely different. And if you’re lucky and hit product/market fit straight out of the gate – awesome.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Maybe it’s just another example of nature abhorring a vacuum, but I prefer to think it’s a natural evolution of the pervasive social networking communities where people relate to, and expect to interact with businesses and products they like. They drive the market, rather than the other way around. Input = output.

Startup 101

Startup Tips Education Customer 101

InfoChachkie

APRIL 30, 2012

One of the immersion techniques Guy promotes is to offer a hands-on trial, in which the prospective customer can touch, feel and experience your product before purchasing it. This muted call to action might reflect that the ad was intended to also be used as a component of a landing page that would display a more visible call to action.

Study 243

Study Advertising Research Customer 243

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Industry & market sizing. Solution and benefits. Explain the business model.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2017

They expect to find you on the first result page from search engines, and position ranking is driven by relevant keywords, new content on a regular basis, and inbound and outbound site links. Expect to spend your limited budget on marketing. Word-of-mouth and minimal marketing does not drive a sustainable business.

Social Media 57

Social Media Search Engine Optimization Startup Customer 57

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

After the first few hundred applications, every word on the page is like Velcro across our eyeballs (which, btw, is why you should never wait until the last minute to apply to a popular accelerator program). We once received an application that ran 22 pages – of text, no graphics! We want hard data and metrics – we want proof.

Tips 70

Tips Startup Statistics Metrics 70

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Companies that do this best become market leaders. Smart entrepreneurs architect a value chain that includes customers, partners and vendors, based on market dynamics. Continuous improvement applies to the business model as well as the product. Set business goals and milestones, and use metrics to track performance.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Industry & market sizing. Solution and benefits. Explain the business model.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 7, 2009

My initial conversations normally focus on the core of the business, important Startup Metrics , probably marketing strategy (ex. SEO for Startups and Negative Customer Acquisition Costs ) and, of course, the product itself. Normally the product is defined as a web site. I talk to a lot of founders of startups.

Web 150

Web Sites Email HTML 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

It’s human nature to prioritize the metrics that get measured, so the simple act of keeping track is often enough to have a significant positive impact. The Venture Value Scorecard is a one-page summary of your company’s achievements and assets: the factors that contribute to the value of your organization.

.Net 89

.Net Metrics Competition Template 89

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

We just recently started rolling out ad-related products, like Ad Manager, which is like Google's ad manager with baked-in social targeting. Ian Swanson: We have 1500 publishers using our products. It's simple as Google Analytics, and you just place it on your canvas page for your application. So who is using your software?

Social Media 113

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

When polled 88% of marketing professionals said they couldn’t accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and the majority said lack of ROI measurement is their single greatest frustration with social media (Forbes). Here’s a screen shot of my home page on awe.sm. End of story. Today awe.sm

Marketing 307

Marketing Technical Review Startup Tool 307

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

We just recently started rolling out ad-related products, like Ad Manager, which is like Google's ad manager with baked-in social targeting. Ian Swanson: We have 1500 publishers using our products. It's simple as Google Analytics, and you just place it on your canvas page for your application. So who is using your software?

Social Media 100

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 100

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2011

We're not yet marketing or selling direct to advertisers, because we're really focused on growing and honing our platform. We also make some e-commerce revenue, because some people are ranking products, so we can make affiliate revenue or lead revenue on clicks on things like cars. Thanks, and good luck! READ MORE>>.

Startup 195

Startup Platform Sites Java 195

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

To learn more about all the companies, be sure to visit 500 Startups’ official demo day page. They’ve captured their market quickly by being the first providers of affordable luxury bookings with a business model to fill in a large amount of unused travel inventory. Pijon - think Birchbox for care packages.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Industry & market sizing. Solution and benefits. Explain the business model.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative. There is no substitute for knowing your customers first hand, and iterating on a minimum viable product to find the most marketable solution.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

We also provide the consumer a slew of tools, that will help them upload their resume and manage their online identity, plus we also have a resume builder function, detailed metrics on exactly who is viewing their resume, and the ability to create and manage multiple versions of their resume. We also blend in ads with our job results page.

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

We said to the studios--you have this amazing content, why not let us clip it all up, find the best moments in film, and allow users to post those to their blogs and Facebook pages, and let us create curated channels on the web? A few companies have aggregated all of that free media out there from those marketing materials.

Startup 190

Startup Los Angeles Content Hollywood 190

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. There are too many pages. Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” It passes the weight test.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Matthew Graczyk is founder of angel-backed Zubican (www.zubican.com)--saw a problem, which was the difficulty of finding suppliers for products for businesses--and decided to solve the problem, with a site specifically targeted at helping B2B buyers and sellers connect. We've also got SEO feed pages. It's a double viral loop.

SEO 100

SEO Advertising Gogii Tech Coast Angels 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

You need to first create a compelling product. 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. You need product / market fit. Product / market fit is everything.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Analysis on viral marketing, user experience, game design, and online ads. Heres 5 steps to start exploring: View the "Best Of" list with 50+ essays on viral marketing, gaming, and ads » Get introduced: About this blog, why entrepreneurs and marketers recommend it » Receive updates by email or RSS feed or Twitter.

Startup 29

Startup IP Email Report 29

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 22, 2016

Industry news was excited, but for how amazing of a product they are, custom Snapchat geofilters have remained stunningly under the radar. So what’s exciting about this new product? This product is literally too good to pass up. Of course, eventually, these filters will be ruined by marketers the same way everything else is.

Customer 40

Customer Custom Snapchat Design 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2019

More and more customers these days are doing their own marketing research, scanning internet reviews and feedback from friends, rather than trusting messages that you push out through advertising. Inbound marketing requires that you be where your customers are, or they won’t find you or care.

Marketing 94

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Customer 94