Retention - if you build something people want/use AND come back and use often, then you can usually figure out a business model to make it work (if there's a big enough market).
I don't think I would add anything to Sean's pyramid but I do have my own approach to things that essentially breaks it down a bit more to a granular approach. 1. Find users who've had success If you're lucky to have 100-1000 users, I'm hoping you can identify 5-20 of them that love your produc...
One option is to provide dedicated support while letting the code be open. There are plenty of businesses that run on open, freely available architecture, and they make all their money by selling a "Pro" plan that allows people the security of being able to pick up the phone and ask a question. H...
Yes, it's foolish. People can disagree about how much value there is in a MBA, but that's not the point. You've identified two targets - being an entrepreneur and building out your network. Go straight for the jugular, not some round about way through school. Want to build your network? Take hal...
The main reason is everyone else sold or overreacted to the market and pivoted. Yammer sold for $1B+ to Microsoft but could've easily been a 30B+ market cap company. Slide had some issues and continue to react to the market trying different things - had they focused on a real problem, they migh...
You may want to consider showcasing the more narrow, focused application which will be (ideally) your more capital-efficient beachhead that proves the product and market fit. Meanwhile, I would present a few select slides or datapoints from the original presentation as something that showcases t...
A typical rule of thumb would be that an established company sets aside around 15% of the outstanding shares at any point in time for employee options. Those get split up among employees based on their contributions. Depending how key these VPs are relative to other employees you have (remember ...
You are facing a classic chicken and egg problem. You want premium projects but cannot get them because you haven't done any yet. To solve this, you need to think from your target customers standpoint. Why would a customer buy from you? What do you offer that others don't have? Once you define th...
I have built two software companies by hiring out the development work. I sold one for a decent sum during the dot com era (circa 1999). I remain a shareholder in the other one. I currently work with amazing development company on behalf of one of my clients. Here are some things to consider. 1...
There are lots of great companies that make a profit while helping others. Many times, these companies are formatted as a pair of companies. For example: 'Helpco is a not-for profit corporation that does X and donates proceeds of it's activities to Y.' What is not part of the headline is that ...