I was recently advising a client in an incredibly competitive industry – think hundreds of millions raised, huge players in every major market, multi-billion dollar valuations… Suffice it to say, it’s a pretty crowded space they’re trying to break into. To make matters worse, they weren’t all that differentiated… their USP was weak. Which was...
Influencer marketing is one of my favorite promotional strategies. Nothing beats a tried and true recommendation from someone you know, like and respect. And that’s what influencers are – at least the ones that don’t whore themselves out to the highest bidder and flaunt any and every product on Instagram… The truth about influencer marketing...
Starting a business can be incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do, so much to learn and every day seems to hold new challenges that you and you alone need to solve in order to survive. It’s a steep learning curve.That is why I put together this glossary of the most common business terms and...
Designing virality and word of mouth marketing into your product When it comes to producing hockey stick growth and exploding valuations, virality and word of mouth are the holy grail. A product that markets itself without spending a dime on customer acquisition (CAC)… That is the stuff of legends that every company strives for, but...
“Do things that don’t scale.” -Paul Graham Worse. Advice. Ever… Depending on the stage and size of your business, this mentality could spell disaster. The further along your business is, the less this applies to you. Yet, it’s something ALL entrepreneurs struggle with. We’re ADD. We focus on the things we like doing, or worse yet,...
“There’s nothing new under the sun.” We’ve all heard it… but what then is creativity, what is inspiration? Is it the artist or entrepreneur creating something completely unique, or combining previously separate things in new and innovative ways? Does it matter? Whoever said creativity was the key to success? The starving artist is a trope for...
Two things matter when building a business: 1) acquiring customers, and 2) retaining them (and/or your dominant position). Everything else is icing on the cake. Today we’re discussing both, and how to build your business from the beginning for a flywheel of success. In a word: Authenticity Authentic…? Seem counterintuitive? It is. The thing is,...
Guess who was in the pet emergency room Thanksgiving morning… this guy. Turns out, raisins can be deadly to dogs — something about liver failure. So, a slice of cinnamon raisin bread later, a race to the clinic, hearts pounding. (And if I sound a little cynical, it wasn’t my dog, and I don’t think she was...
So, you need customers. Shocker. And while Facebook and Google ads are great, it’s a rat race of burning cash quicker than the competition. It’s not sustainable, especially as an advantage. Sure, you can get really good at advertising, get your cost of acquisition (CAC) down. But in the end, you’re still paying to acquire...
Designing addictive products Three-to-four-million people buy Starbucks coffee every day. And in the US alone, there are more than 250M cups of coffee (of any brand) purchased on a daily basis. That’s a lot of freaking caffeine. And it doesn’t even include homebrew… But it wasn’t always so. Habits are hard to build and harder...