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Eric Ashman

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SMART Goals: The Milestones on the Path to Product-Market Fit

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One of the most dangerous traps of a startup is that there is always a never-ending list of “things to do”. You can stay very busy checking off items on your to-do list, only to find out at some point that you are not at all close to building a sustainable business. You need to set SMART goals that establish milestones along the path to success. Your Goals Should be SMART Let’s start off by talking about what we mean by goals. There are two popular frameworks for goal setting: OKRs (One …

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Webinar: Startup Survival Strategy in the Age of Coronavirus

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On Wednesday, March 25, 2020 I delivered the webinar Startup Survival Strategy in the Coronavirus Era. This session was created just at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Topics covered include: Setting up an early warning systemUnderstanding your KPIs and the connection to your cash flowTaking decisive action to protect your companyCommon roadblocks to making big changes, including:The Sunk Cost FallacyThe 20-60-20 RuleAnalysis ParalysisPracticing self-care in difficult times …

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Your Startup’s Early Warning System In The Age Of Coronavirus

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As the spread of the coronavirus accelerates in the U.S., the economic impact is just starting to be felt. A startup’s best-laid plans for the year have been scrambled. But the impact on your startup is going to be unclear. The video conferencing company Zoom will likely benefit in the short term because of the boom in people working from home. Retail will likely suffer in the coming weeks as consumers avoid stores and malls. When things are so unpredictable, you need an early warning …

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The Casper IPO – Investor Leverage, The Hit To Employee Morale and The Tough Road Ahead

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I recently wrote a post about the negative impact of the Casper IPO on investor sentiment in the Direct-To-Consumer (“DTC”) space. Anytime a company in a sector goes public at a valuation that is less than half the valuation of its last round, it’s going to ripple through the rest of the ecosystem. But there is another lesson that’s worth discussing. When I teach the concepts behind Pivot to Profitability, one point I always make is that raising money is a sales process. The better your …

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Feasible, Viable and Desirable: You Need All Three

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Some of you might remember the business Quirky. The startup was founded by Ben Kaufman in 2009 as a platform for inventors. Quirky would select the best, most marketable inventions, manufacture them and then sell the products while taking a percentage of the revenue. Over the next 6 years, Quirky would raise nearly $200 million from blue-chip VC investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins. And while Quirky created some products that had some success in the marketplace, by 2015 …

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Learning From the Casper IPO – Investor Sentiment Shifts Fast

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In the world of startups and venture capital, industries move in and out of favor very fast. It doesn’t take much for an industry that’s been attracting huge amounts of investor attention and capital to suddenly lose its shine. We are seeing this happen right now in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) space. Casper recently filed for its IPO. If you don’t know Casper, the company is one of the leaders in the very crowded DTC mattress space. Casper has raised over $355 million in venture …

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