December 2009
8 posts
Milestones to Startup Success - By Sean Ellis →
More good stuff from Sean Ellis
4 tags
What VC's Really Want to Know
VC’s often ask entrepreneurs of early stage companies questions that they can’t realistically answer. For example:
1. What’s the cost of customer acquisition? (most entrepreneurs have no clue. Plus, even with early data, this answer can change radically with scale)
2. What will the product look like in 5 years? (Who knows? Product evolution is rarely linear. You may be...
Creating an operating plan for 2010
bijan:
This time of year, many venture backed startups have created or are putting together their operating plan for 2010.
Few suggestions for early stage/pre revenue companies:
0. Keep it simple.
1. Start with the ending. What do you want to accomplish by the end of next year and why?
2. Set quarterly objectives
Quarterly objectives help your board identify what’s going well and not well...
Open Office Hours Update - Extended Hours
All slots from 10AM - Noon on Dec 11 are now filled. I’ve very pleased with the response and I hope that the time proves to be valuable for the entrepreneurs that we meet with.
Due to the high level of demand, I am going to do 2 things:
1. I am going to arrive at Cosi on the 11th at 9AM. From 9AM-10AM, I’ll meet casually with any entrepreneur that comes by. There will be no...
Quick Observations From SF
Just getting back from another short but good trip to SF. I always enjoy visiting the Bay Area and I always learn a ton. A couple quick observations.
1. I met a company with 5 people that is building extremely popular software and competing quite nicely against heavily funded startups and even some public companies. When you talk to these guys about how they started, they basically said...
Milestones to Startup Success →
Customer Development is Not a Focus Group « Steve... →
Another great post by Steve Blank
Details for the next Spark Open Office Hours on...
I will be holding my next “Open Office Hours” on December 11, 2009 from 10AM – Noon. My colleague Santo Politi will be joining me as well. The purpose of these meetings is to provide the Boston entrepreneur community greater access to investors for their perspective, feedback, and help. We will schedule six 20-minute time slots, so please respond quickly if you are interested. The format is...