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Startup Customer Development Sean Ellis 									 Seedcamp 2009 (London) Sept 22, 2009
#1 Startup Risk = Customers Huge challenge to acquire & convert Little useful guidance available Hard to know where to start (hundreds of things you “could do”) 2 startup-marketing.com
What Really Mattered on Road to IPOs? Understand users and use cases Focus on right metrics & optimize Apply engineering to marketing Early execution is most critical 3 startup-marketing.com
Primary Focus Now Critical Zone Critical Zone IPOs Growth Stage Then light advising in growth stage 4 startup-marketing.com
Customer Development Framework 5 startup-marketing.com
Growth Starts with the Product 6 startup-marketing.com
What is Product/Market Fit? People want/need your product And they represent large enough market Differentiated from alternatives Users will pay for your product Or you are advertising supported 7 startup-marketing.com
“Life of any startup can be divided into two parts -before P/M fit and after P/M fit” Marc Andreessen Founder Netscape, Opsware, Ning 8 startup-marketing.com
PayPal’s Quest for P/M Fit $200K seed funding - cryptography “No one really needed it” Max Levchin $4.5M VC funding - PDA payments People preferred web demo (100X users) $1.5B sale to eBay – web payments 9 startup-marketing.com
Survey Your Product/Market Fit Free template at Survey.io 10 startup-marketing.com
Key Product/Market Fit Question “How would you feel if you could no longer use Product?” 11 startup-marketing.com
Transition to Growth 12 startup-marketing.com
Transition to Growth Track/report right metrics Positioning (based on perceived value) Viable economics (business model) 13 startup-marketing.com
Optimize Before Growing Landing pages Funnel (acquisition through transaction) 12% 13% 8% … 14 startup-marketing.com
Scalable Growth Now Possible 15 startup-marketing.com
Test from Free to Paid Channels 16 startup-marketing.com
Driving/Managing Growth Budget to maximize positive ROI spend 17 startup-marketing.com
Improve Lifetime Value Customer retention is critical Cross/up sell additional products This expands profitable channels 18 startup-marketing.com
Complete Startup Pyramid Growth Optimize Economics Positioning Product/Market Fit Twitter:  @seanellis Blog: startup-marketing.com

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Startup Customer Development (Seedcamp, London)

  • 1. Startup Customer Development Sean Ellis Seedcamp 2009 (London) Sept 22, 2009
  • 2. #1 Startup Risk = Customers Huge challenge to acquire & convert Little useful guidance available Hard to know where to start (hundreds of things you “could do”) 2 startup-marketing.com
  • 3. What Really Mattered on Road to IPOs? Understand users and use cases Focus on right metrics & optimize Apply engineering to marketing Early execution is most critical 3 startup-marketing.com
  • 4. Primary Focus Now Critical Zone Critical Zone IPOs Growth Stage Then light advising in growth stage 4 startup-marketing.com
  • 5. Customer Development Framework 5 startup-marketing.com
  • 6. Growth Starts with the Product 6 startup-marketing.com
  • 7. What is Product/Market Fit? People want/need your product And they represent large enough market Differentiated from alternatives Users will pay for your product Or you are advertising supported 7 startup-marketing.com
  • 8. “Life of any startup can be divided into two parts -before P/M fit and after P/M fit” Marc Andreessen Founder Netscape, Opsware, Ning 8 startup-marketing.com
  • 9. PayPal’s Quest for P/M Fit $200K seed funding - cryptography “No one really needed it” Max Levchin $4.5M VC funding - PDA payments People preferred web demo (100X users) $1.5B sale to eBay – web payments 9 startup-marketing.com
  • 10. Survey Your Product/Market Fit Free template at Survey.io 10 startup-marketing.com
  • 11. Key Product/Market Fit Question “How would you feel if you could no longer use Product?” 11 startup-marketing.com
  • 12. Transition to Growth 12 startup-marketing.com
  • 13. Transition to Growth Track/report right metrics Positioning (based on perceived value) Viable economics (business model) 13 startup-marketing.com
  • 14. Optimize Before Growing Landing pages Funnel (acquisition through transaction) 12% 13% 8% … 14 startup-marketing.com
  • 15. Scalable Growth Now Possible 15 startup-marketing.com
  • 16. Test from Free to Paid Channels 16 startup-marketing.com
  • 17. Driving/Managing Growth Budget to maximize positive ROI spend 17 startup-marketing.com
  • 18. Improve Lifetime Value Customer retention is critical Cross/up sell additional products This expands profitable channels 18 startup-marketing.com
  • 19. Complete Startup Pyramid Growth Optimize Economics Positioning Product/Market Fit Twitter: @seanellis Blog: startup-marketing.com

Editor's Notes

  1. Startup success today becoming less mysterious
  2. 40% to 100% proceed up pyramid