I was watching a great talk from Ben Horowitz given at UC Berkely and in part of his address he covered the subject of what he as a VC looks for when he is considering investing in a tech startup. Really interesting and worth mulling over if you’re considering a startup or plan to raise finance at some point for your business.
Its always interesting to hear someone’s response when you ask what their new business is about. The answer is often lengthy, muddled. Sometimes technical founders have an over-eagerness to express the detail of the solution rather than just focusing on core value – to satisfy a felt need to share everything proudly architected in the dark hours past midnight. Its wrong, customers don’t care. Stop it. I love this TEDx talk ...
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I love that the #leanstartup conversation has started including discussion around application to corporate environments and even government. I spent many years at Microsoft and recognize the wisdom that could be applied there. I have also been a leader in a “startup” within a pretty old-school corporate environment that had too much rigidity around processes etc inherently – a culture inherently counter to the kind of environment most startups thrive in. The experience really helped emphasize ...
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Usually when product management folk talk about personas, they are referring to user personas. And technical founders of a new software service often have a mindset oriented around testing functional relevance (problem-solution fit) with customers, making sure that the features being delivered are going to scratch an itch in just the right place and in just the right manner.
It is important to remember is that the discovery and validation phase of your business is not just about validating a problem-solution ...
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Marketing and Sales teams are often at odds with each other because each has a slightly different view of the world. Are you on the same page as your sales management when it comes to your sales funnel and the KPIs that drive activity?
Sales teams can be critical of lead quality, especially when they are achieving low conversion rates through their part of the pipeline, or are not hitting their monthly targets.
The marketing team may stop short of what ...
AT&T bashes T-Mobile ... leaving everyone to wonder why they felt the need to do it. Tnx for the free PR :) http://t.co/554ePFlUtr MSFT has 12 mnths to get WinRT going. Their savior may be Intel 14nm chips in Win8 tablets early 2014. http://t.co/hUk5yP0z Read re AAPL: Can a company with $36 billion in annual revenue still be considered a tool for nonconformists? AT&T bashes T-Mobile ... leaving everyone to wonder why they felt the need to do it. Tnx for the free PR :) http://t.co/554ePFlUtr MSFT has 12 mnths to get WinRT going. Their savior may be Intel 14nm chips in Win8 tablets early 2014. http://t.co/hUk5yP0z
In case you missed it, the religious battle over business plans alive and well on LinkedIn > http://t.co/8zNaVFcCz9 #prodmgmt #leanstartup
RT @saschadexler: A/B Testing Between Free and Paid Signups: Sometimes Free is Better http://t.co/PagUiYehuq #leanstartup #custdev