Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Here is my selection of ten key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but too many small businesses only monitor haphazardly, if at all: Sales revenue.

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Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2013

We really pride ourselves in the amount of buzz and interest we drive for brands, which hopefully drives back directly to their sales. It''s a combination of leveraging our data to provide activation of users, by sending out the posts, and really providing brands with the metrics of before, during, and after a campaign.

Social Media 237

Social Media Advertising Media Metrics 237

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. You need to track what content is resonating with your prospective customers, through metrics including submit rate by content offer, elasticity, velocity, cost, and ultimately revenue by content program. Lead-stage content performance.

Metrics 101

Metrics Marketing Demand Paramount 101

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. Our fund (Upfront Ventures) recently returned >1x an entire $200 million fund just selling small minatory in secondary sales while still holding most of our stock for an ultimate public market exits. That used to be called A-round investing.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

I’ve observed the following scenario in both of my companies and in countless others I’ve advised or invested in: - your company becomes moderately high profile in a few press articles. If a company wants to invest in your company and you haven’t read that post please do. million in sales.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources. One of the things I have observed over the years is that a hard charging sales oriented founder/CEO can often hide the defects in a product.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

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Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments. Did the TV stimulate search? But, they're not looking at how those swim lanes interact with each other.

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

You’re adding unnecessary “purchase friction” If your deck is something I should open 3–4 times as I’m contemplating an investment, why add any consumption friction to the reader? Because I invest in “ lines, not dots ” it’s actually the delta that I’m investing in. Many of my colleagues do, too.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

If you invested in the first angel round of a startup company it is usually very hard to sell your stock – usually for many years if ever at all. The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

My other co-founder, Rusty Jenkins, was also with that company, doing sales. We will be opening up a a round of funding soon, as soon as we have some metrics and have been live in the market, and hope to raise some money and capital in the next thirty days. We're also funding it out of pocket. You mention you're part of StartEngine.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. Instead of making a few dollars per sale and hoping for thousands of sales, you sell to only a few customers, and charge much higher rates. friend of mine asked me to chat with a startup he’d invested in. they have purchasing intent ).*. Here’s why.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

I am a raving fan of AppSumo because the creator of the brand, Noah Kagan , leads his company focusing on community first and sales second. And he showed us examples how implementing his team’s innovations directly sky rocketed company sales. Noah has what I believe he called “Thank You metrics”. It makes sense.

Metrics 87

Metrics Email Startup Technical Review 87

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. Mobile devices deliver “bottom of funnel” sales opportunities that deliver real & immediate economic results. Bottom of the sales funnel.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2018

Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. You need to track what content is resonating with your prospective customers, through metrics including submit rate by content offer, elasticity, velocity, cost, and ultimately revenue by content program. Lead-stage content performance.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Switch your attention from product development to sales. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

There are some basic things, as well, such as helping people to create mass numbers of ads really quickly, by putting in different iterations of copy and creative, changing demographic targeting criteria, interest targeting, and having the system automatically create those ads and optimize them based on conversion metrics.

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

A firm like ours has almost 100 different investments across all the various partners so we get to see some businesses very intimately. " 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.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2022

They advocate investing in their new framework, where the Z.E.R.O. In any case, reframing the conversation from paid media marketing to the new framework requires a balance, and measurements along the way to better manage return on investment. Long-term sales.

Marketing 127

Marketing Framework Social Media Media 127

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Startups usually think in terms of a million to 10 million dollar infusions, but aspiring unicorns usually need to seek financial investments of hundreds of millions, or even a billion dollars. Then there is the pressure to go public ( IPO ), and open your investment to thousands, maybe millions, of small investors.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales. But we do it anyway, because we believe that the short-term metrics probably aren’t indicative of the long term.”. Because of his grounding as an investment banker, Jeff appreciated the value of hard data. Don’t Chase The Quick Buck.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” And if your ultimate strategy is a small sale of the business that recovers investment and puts some cash in your pocket – having more time to make this work makes a lot of sense.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. They dropped their number one selling product and switched to a competitor’s product while managing not to lose a single sale. I know this guy is a money maker.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Obviously this definition is generic, so my first recommendation is that you take the lead in defining traction metrics for your startup, and then selling your results convincingly to investors. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. Company plans to use the capital to build out sales and marketing and r&d. -a Spread through word-of-mouth as the company has no sales team, all engineers. Investing much of new cash to build presence in Android platform.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2021

In addition, current investors want to see every startup go public or be acquired, as an exit event, so they can get their due return for that investment which has been tied up for the last few years. For these reasons, I always look for an overt exit strategy in every startup I might consider for an angel investment.

Startup 173

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 173

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.). Seriously, this happens.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

One area I’ve had much discussion with the companies in which I’ve invested in is bringing on board an operationally focused CFO. It freed up Ophir to grow out our sales organization, to work more closely with agencies, to innovate on product and to raise capital. The full financial details and metrics were in the deck.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116