Almost every early stage startup that pitches me these days talks about the traction they’ve had with absolutely no marketing whatsoever. “We have five hundred signups and we’ve done no marketing at all.” “Our beta list is growing quickly–and we’re not even marketing yet!” “Customers are knocking at our door, and that’s with no marketing.” […]
Taking Advantage of Startup Accelerators
Last week a company that I advise, Qimple, got accepted into 500 Startups. It’s great to see. Lots of people are congratulating them on Facebook and Twitter. They’re incredibly excited. In Canada we buzz about our entrepreneurs “making it” south of the border. All warm and fuzzy. But let’s be clear: Qimple hasn’t won squat. […]
The Book Publisher of the Future – an Open Spec
Ever since writing Lean Analytics I’ve been thinking about what a new publishing company might look like, one that is designed to do more than print books. I even contemplated starting a new company to tackle the problems in book publishing (but I decided against it). Still, I can’t help but get aggravated about how […]
Onboarding Isn’t About Signups, It’s About Long-Term Engagement
At some point in your startup’s existence you’ll need to focus a lot of attention on your product’s onboarding experience. Don’t worry about this right away. At the start just make sure people can sign up and go get some early adopters by any means necessary. Once you’ve proven that a small number of people […]
GoInstant is Gone But the Story Continues
Some time ago, GoInstant finally turned off their website and said “goodbye”. I know this was a bittersweet moment for many, because I worked so hard, side-by-side, with the team for 3 years. I’m no longer at GoInstant (which was acquired by Salesforce), but it was sad for me too. In the end, GoInstant was […]
Joining VarageSale (and Moving to Toronto)
Three years ago I joined an early stage startup, GoInstant, and moved to Halifax. A year after that, we were acquired by Salesforce. It’s been an incredible experience. A genuinely life changing one. But as they say, “all good things must come to an end,” and as of last Friday I said goodbye to GoInstant […]
Engagement is a Long-Term Process
Drip marketing is a way engaging people before they buy. You capture people’s email address and then reach out on a regular basis with something of value. Most people don’t buy or sign up the first time they visit a site, it takes multiple visits, which is why drip marketing is so important. Most companies […]
The Importance of Understanding Your Best Users
Every startup has a certain percentage of “good” users. I put good in double quotes because the definition of a good user will vary depending on the startup. You need to define what a “good” user is for your startup. Let’s look at an example… For an early stage startup that’s got an MVP in […]
Single Founders or Co-Founders?
Conventional wisdom says that startups should have two or three founders. People tend to have pretty strong opinions on the issue, although I doubt they have definitive evidence / proof to back up their opinions. Some investors won’t even invest in single founders at all–so understandably for entrepreneurs this is a big issue. Most “business-focused” […]
Don’t be Data-Driven, be Problem-Driven
Recently a founder of an early stage startup asked me, “How do I convince my co-founder and team to be more data-driven?” I think I surprised him with my answer, because I told him that the key issue wasn’t being more data-driven, it was being problem-driven. Or more specifically, problem-aligned. Being data-driven (or at least […]
Founding Partner at 