Issue #2: Don’t rush scaling product-market fit. Here are two ways to avoid the common trap of wasting time and money on the wrong growth tactics.
Know Your Burn Rate – Set Up Your Assessment Framework
Stephen Blank describes a startup as an organization formed to search for a repeatable, scalable, profitable business model. They are not small versions of large corporations. A well-run startup is like a laboratory, testing hypothesis, comparing actual results against expected results, and constantly executing small pivots until a company is born. Or unit the cash […]
Finding Product-Market Fit: Desirable, Feasible, and Viable
Finding product-market fit before you run out of cash, patience or passion for the problem you are trying to solve is the race you are running when you launch your startup. But what is it? How do you set SMART Goals against this concept, and how do you know when you’ve found it? My favorite […]
Gross Revenue Is A Vanity Metric
Gross Revenue charts on fundraise decks. Gross Revenue used to calculate customer lifetime value. Gross Revenue used to calculate sales team commissions! Gross Revenue is one of those numbers that can make me a little crazy. Because in many types of businesses, it’s an incredibly misleading number. It can tell a story of happiness and […]
How Would Socrates Review That Customer Acquisition Model?
There is something about being the founder of a company that leads you to believe that you’re supposed to be an expert in every discipline, from marketing to software development to creative production. One of the hardest lessons to learn is how to delegate. One of the most important paths to success is to hire […]
Only Revenue Equals Revenue
HuffPost has published a piece about the rise and fall of Mic.com. It’s worth a read to get some perspective on what it’s like to build a startup in a frantic search for a sustainable business model. There are a few good takeaways here that I might come back to in the coming weeks. But […]