Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Their computers then cleverly merge your ads with search results only when users search words imply an interest in your products.

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 107

Marketing Invest SEM Startup 107

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Ask yourself where are the influencers in your market, the majority of your target customers, and what type of interaction will be most productive to your business? Your plan should include a well-designed web site, events, press releases, and search engine marketing (SEM). Assess your target customer demographics.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Team – higher requirements for caliber of team members Product – focus on truly differentiated and not me-too Market – is it really big enough to provide investor returns** Traction – need more users, partners, patents, etc Timing – are you building for yesterday or 2 yrs from now?

Startup 150

Startup SEM IP SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2018

For new product startups, search engine marketing (SEM) is still one of the most cost-effective and scalable lead-generation approaches. You can start an SEM campaign with as little as $50 today and get results very quickly. It’s also one of the most accountable, with in-depth data provided by search engines about performance.

Social Media 55

Social Media SEM Startup Advertising 55

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2014

For new product startups, search engine marketing (SEM) is still one of the most cost-effective and scalable lead-generation approaches. You can start an SEM campaign with as little as $50 today and get results very quickly. It’s also one of the most accountable, with in-depth data provided by search engines about performance.

Startup 99

Startup Social Media SEM Advertising 99

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

companies should… focus on building amazing products. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible. Instead of focusing on marketing as an activity… integrate it into (your) products.”. Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2016

For new product startups, search engine marketing (SEM) is still one of the most cost-effective and scalable lead-generation approaches. You can start an SEM campaign with as little as $50 today and get results very quickly. It’s also one of the most accountable, with in-depth data provided by search engines about performance.

Customer 60

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 60

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

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. Similar with product features. Let me give you an example.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

You don’t need to invent an innovative product to be a real entrepreneur. They are not the generalists required for new product startups. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. I’m a big believer in product stability & performance before adding too many features. How many through SEM? If you have multiple versions of your product, how many are web vs. mobile? Only one guy in the room knew – their tech lead.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 67

Marketing SEM Startup Blogging 67

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. When questioned, founders usually mention word-of-mouth, viral marketing, and a top quality product. Use social media and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to start.

Marketing 102

Marketing Funding Social Media SEM 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Search engine marketing (SEM). No SEM plan means you are missing a huge marketing opportunity. Wikipedia started this, but it is also used for technical support, software, and product reviews. Facebook alone has 800 million active members. Do you have a business presence there? Viral marketing. You can use it for your business.

SEM 95

SEM Search Engine Optimization Blogging PPC 95

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 99

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup SEM 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2013

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. When questioned, founders usually mention word-of-mouth, viral marketing, and a top quality product. Use social media and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to start.

Marketing 106

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). My general rule is that it’s good to be stealth in the early days while you’re building your product and testing your market. It’s a buggy product but pretty damn cool.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Search engine marketing (SEM). No SEM plan means you are missing a huge marketing opportunity. Wikipedia started this, but it is also used for technical support, software, and product reviews. Facebook alone has 500 million members. Do you have a business presence there? Streaming video. You can use it for your business.

Entrepreneur 89

Entrepreneur SEM Search Engine Optimization Blogging 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 95

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2012

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Do basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) yourself. Remember when you had to build a $1M factory to roll-out a new product?

Startup 102

Startup Search Engine Optimization SEM Social Network 102

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 13, 2009

Understandably, the pricing has to be excessive to provide sufficient margin for the product’s producer and an adequate incentive for the non-profit organization. Yet when a child attempts to sell such mis-priced items, the experience is often discouraging, due to the poor cost / value equation associated with such fundraising products.

Web 2.0 222

Web 2.0 Web Sales Outsource Development 222

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 24, 2013

According to Patrick Vlaskovits another proselytizer of the term, “Growth hacking comes after the early stage chaos and post-product-market-fit.”. If you build it, they may not come : So, you’ve launched your product, and people use it and seem to like it. It’s the whole conversion flow.

Hulu 111

Hulu Startup Social Media Organization 111

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

No one wakes up and says to themselves, “I need to buy that product I have never heard of before.” However, Search Engine Management (SEM) is not a “set and forget” exercise. Instead of billboards, affiliates own websites, many of which contain meaningful content associated with the products they advertise. It does not happen.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2011

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 90

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 90

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2010

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. When questioned, founders usually mention word-of-mouth, viral marketing, and a top quality product. Use social media and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to start.

Marketing 94

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

In product business it is often measured over multiple purchases and assumptions are made about the repeat rates and in the enterprise or services world LTV can be based on churn rates, which are notoriously hard to predict in an early-stage business. If you can’t raise — you’re dead. End of story. LTV is imprecise.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Do basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) yourself. Remember when you had to build a $1M factory to roll-out a new product?

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Startup Search Engine Optimization SEM 94

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. The metrics were good but we wondered how much better they would be when we expanded our product.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2009

The second, is we provide fulfillment services, such as product shipments. The fifth is product photography--we actually have an in-house photo studio, including doing things like Photoshop and color correction.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital SEM Commerce Email 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

By now we all know that the largest part of the online spend has been SEM (search engine marketing) where people buy CPC (cost per click) links to display alongside the “organic&# search results in the search engine. The configuration of the team was: 1 CEO, 1 Product Lead and a tech team of 6 people.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2013

Scott Morrow is an Internet and startup veteran, having run such companies as Oversee.net and ThisNext, and headed up product marketing for IAC/Citysearch. We grew our SEM and improved our ROI. I would use this product even if I wasn''t working here. This company fit that profile exactly.

Pricing 256

Pricing Sites Marketing SEM 256

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2010

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 56

Marketing SEM Blogging Design 56

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Not because they didn’t want to do Pay-per-click (they are huge buyers of SEM) but because they didn’t want other people to know what they paid for clicks! He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards. Test monetization early.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Do basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing (SEM) yourself. Remember when you had to build a $1M factory to roll-out a new product?

Startup 50

Startup High Tech Search Engine Optimization SEM 50

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation. I propose we standardize on the “specialist” title, which is much more meaningful and focused, and can be applied to almost any role.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Startup SEM 48

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. This panel will explore the strategies and results around a very successful and fully integrated online campaign from Avery Office Products. We'll discuss innovative strategies, new partnerships, and online-offline initiatives.

Social Media 65

Social Media Media Tech Coast Angels Orange County 65